Peavey Delta Blues

Had this amp over 5 years. Playing in a UK covers band I need everything from clean to Santanaesque sustain and this amp gives me all that. Never had a problem with the tremolo which seems fine. Yes it would be good to have the reverb switched but this amp only cost me ??350 - what do people want for this sort of money? This is a LOT of amp! Agree about lack of tube protection so I made a wood baffle and PEAVEY UK gave me some tweed cloth. Doesn't have DI facility but for about ??25 Peavey do a little DI box which is easily installed and velcroed inside the amp cab. This has a female XLR socket to allow connection to the PA.
I believe that this amp is unique in being the only guitar amp available with a 15" speaker. It deserves a high rating on that alone.

I often get comments about my gig sound, usually from musicians in the audience. One told me he was going to get rid of his Fender valve amp and get a PDB after hearing mine. The 15" speaker is smooth and creamy when cranked, but sparkles when clean. I considered a re-valve and a helpful UK valve dealer recommended replacing only the first pre-amp valve with a GROOVE TUBES and what great advice this proved to be! It gave me sweet sustain and saved me loads of money. All other valves are as fitted by Peavey.
Guitars used: Vintage 335, ES135 with Fralin P-90s, Jap Reissue Tele with Lollar Imperial Humbucker and Tele Special bridge pickup. The amp sounds great with all guitars particularly the Lollar equipped Tele which I gained in a swap with my Fralin-equipped Strat. The amp did not like the Strat when using O/D channel and gave me muddy sounds.
One criticism: I wish they'd made this a 50 watt amp as I'd like a tad more headroom when playing clean but it was only a problem on bigger gigs and we've solved it by sending the backline amps thru the PA.
True this isn't a shredder's tool but for the couple of songs that I need that sound I just use a Boss Mega-Distortion.

So far so good, never take a backup.

A resounding 11 out of 10 here. Peavey UK are absolute gentlemen!
Before buying the amp, my dealer arranged for me to try the 1x15 and 2x10 versions at Peavey which is fortunately a fifteen minute drive away. I was treated royally and found both amps all ready for me to try in a demo room.
I have the amp serviced every now and then and receive the same professional but friendly service. The only problem I've ever encountered was when I re-valved it myself and one of the tubes that I'd bought was faulty. The engineer went through several stock tubes and tested them while I watched. He went through several before being satisfied. Not only was I not charged, Peavey gave me a footswitch for the amp free of charge. When I said that I'd bought valves myself and was of course prepared to pay , the response was, "You've had a problem with one of our amps and we want you to be happy." For this reason we use a lot of Peavey in our band.
A great contrast to the treatment I got from the Gibson Custom Shop who didn't want to know about the wrong value tone pot they'd put in a ??1500 guitar!

Have played for 35-plus years pro and semi-pro and used Marshall, Ampeg, Fender but the Delta Blues is the most user-friendly of them all. Taking into account sound, reliabilty, on-stage usability, weight, looks, price and manufacturer support I'd use no other amp. If I was picky I'd welcome a tad more middle like the Ampeg had but a Boss Graphic sorts that. There isn't an unkind sound in this beauty; I can't imagine a greater value-for-money product anywhere on the planet.

I am novelist want-a-be guitar player, looking for that special sound of my own. I can???t sing, so I got to make it up somehow. I was shopping for a vintage sounding tube amp. I looked at the Mesa Boogie, Lonestar Special; the Fender Blues Deluxe and the Peavey Delta Blues (PDB). I was even considering purchasing a truly used vintage amp with point to point wiring with the Rivera design. I preferred the Mesa Boogie, because of the feature (more so for my wife) of being able to switch from a 5, 15 or 30 watt amp. But not at 3x???s the cost. The Boogie comes with 1x12 Speaker 4xEL84, 5x12AX7, 1x5Y3 tubes. The Fender Blues Deluxe boasts 40 watt output and 2x6L6 output and 3x12AX7 tubes with a 1x12 speaker. The PDB is 30 watt, 1x15 Speaker with 4xEL84, 3x12AX7 tubes. The Boogie is made here in the USA and the PDB is made in Mississippi, home of the Delta Blues. Fender???s amp is made in Mexico. I was able to try this amp out and purchase it at my local music shop (Wray???s) for less than what the Big Online Music Price Buster Specialist were selling it for. I don???t thing you will find anything comparable to this amp for the same price tag (just under $600.00). If you want power and the Heavy Metal sound, then go with on of those 200 watt transistor amps with a 4X12 cabinet.

I think the key to a good sounding tube amp is to crank it up to full throttle and make those tubes sing. I understand ZZ Top made a lot of their recordings with a 5 watt tube amp cranked to the max. Going from ???Clean??? to ???Dirty??? is the sound everyone wants to hear. This amp does do a good job of that, although some do say the clean is better than the dirty. The 15 inch speaker does give you some advantage in the bottom end.

This thing is built like a tank and seems like it would last a life time or maybe even longer. I don???t play gigs yet so I wouldn???t know. I haven???t really had it long enough to find out. Thus, to be totally fair, I would have to stay neutral and give it a rating of ???No Opinion???.

I tried Peavey???s website which was user friendly and called the Customer Service toll-free number and the people there were also friendly. The wait to talk to someone was not too long and you don???t get someone from a third-world country. That???s very important. Also, there is advantage to purchasing from your local Dealer for this very reason. I was concerned that the 3x12AX7 tubes did not glow in the dark like the 4xEL84???s. I was told by both the Dealer and Peavey, not to worry because the 12Ax7 tubes are for the preamp and therefore they don???t use as much juice and do not light up like the El84's which are the output, but they are still working. Please send me some of your feedback on this.

I own a used Hamer guitar with Seymour Duncan ???Humbucker??? pickups. I am anxious to hear the sound of the single-coil pickups that come with a Strat, but don???t have one. Also have a Genz Benz Acoustic Amp for the Takamine. I understand this amp can also be used as an acoustic amp, but I don???t know since I am afraid to try it out. If it does, I wasted my money buying another amp that I didn???t really need. Overall, I am completely absolutely satisfied with this amp. I can???t really compare it to anything else, other than my Fender G-DEC 15 watt practice amp which blows this one away. Just kidding!!! Some of the things I did not like are that it only comes with one input and I had to fork over another $29.99 for a footswitch, because it does not come with one. In closing, the only way you will find out if this amp is for you is to go try one out at your local Dealer.

you all know the features so this is about the db 15inch. got it new two months ago from a dealer. traded a fender cyberchamp and a fender bassman 25 bass amp and 200.00 cash. the cyber champ sounded good in the fender sounds but I could never get all the effects to stay off no matter it always reset the reverb and chrous and I could hear the delay leaking through so I had enough of the cyber junk and wanted a tube amp. liked the classic thirty and decided to get the delta blues.

this is a well made, good sounding amp but the reverb is not tube driven and that sucks hot air. the trem is usable to a degree. did not like the blue marvel speaker so I had bought a Eminence cannabis rex for another amp and it sounded great for that amp so I made a ring to reduce the baffle to 12"{you can get one on ebay from rick@rawwoods.com}reduces the 15 to 12. I have one coming from him because mine is a bit cheezy looking. anyway put the CREX in the delta blues and man what a sound. it really brings the delta blues to life.
much better sounds everywhere then the blue marvel and just as loud.works well overdriven and clean but excells at overdrive, very tweed deluxe sound. had been using a ts9 for overdrive on it. I have a red fang coming for it and may go that route so I can get more of a vox sound as this is a bit more american tweed sounding. vox is just around the corner on this with the right speaker.I used a les paul Tokai and a fender strat w/ texas specials for the test. the les paul sounds were very good in all settings although this c-rex speaker darkened my other amp so much as to make the paul almost unusable but worked well with a tele and strat to the point that for the first time in my playing of 25 years I saw no need for reverb. the C-rex is head and shoulders about any speaker I have ever owned and that includes a weber bluedog and a few celestions and a lot of eminence speakers that came in new amps. I believe it to be one of the very best speakers availible at any price.
but it may darken somes amps as it did my peavey classic to the point that a les paul might be to dark so take note.

this amp needs a tube guard. can't believe peavey is still cranking them out without one. the retainers work well but they are for retaining and won't stop the tubes from taking a hit.I will either make or buy one in the near future beacuse a power tube halfway in or knocked out and not known about could cause a meltdown of vital parts in the amp. shame on peavey for letting this go for so long.because of that this rating will be very low.

peavey is everywhere and have much better service then fender.

been playing a long time 25 years{sounds like two}. as for gear had a lot of the older and new stuff. this amp rocks NOW. but be prepared to put some extra money in it down the road and the 15" speaker is hard to replace as there are few choices out there at this time. also its a 16ohm and that makes it harder.peavey told me if I use just an 8ohm speaker to unplug the cab speaker and plug in the 8ohm through the extension speaker jack. I wonder if everyone who changes out the 16ohm 15" blue marvel is doing this and what are the ramifications if you hook an 8ohm to the speaker cab wires? peavey got very vague about these questions when I asked and I believe it was intentional as I asked several times trying to understand what I was being told.why can't people be honest anymore.if some of you amp experts read this please email me and give me the answer that peavey would not. my question is this. why can I not hook up an 8ohm speaker to the speaker wires coming out from the chassis? my addres is trooth123@netscape.net

Mine is an early model. This is a fairly basic amp. Very easy to dial in good tone. The effects loop is a nice touch. Tremelo not the best, but it's functional. The amp weighs very little and is a great amp for gigging. I have read criticisms of the overdrive channel, but I think that's just because they aren't using it correctly. I find it to be very sweet. This is not an amp for metal players. Rock, Blues and even jazz players will dig it.

I've had this amp for quite a while. It sat unused, because I was never happy with the sounds I could get out of it. It sounded harsh and brittle, with very little character, but VERY LOUD. I was going to sell it, when I decided to try some new tubes. I put in Euro Tubes EL84s. WOW what a difference! It's amazing. I think the originals are Sovteks. I replaced the 12ax7s, also, but I went back to the original sovtek 12 ax7s. The combination of the Euro Tubes and Sovteks is very cool. The Normal channel starts to break up nicely at about 5/6. The 15" speaker delivers a nice low end chunk. I play a Carvin California Archtop, and the tones I get from this amp are really impressive. Everything from very Vox like chime to Fender clean. The overdrive channel can produce sweet, singing tones, with a very usable overdrive/distortion. I have several tube amps... old Fenders and a Rivera. This amp can hold its own against them all, and it sells for $500 new. I find myself going to the Peavey all the time, now. I can't say enough about how impressed I am with this amp, after a few alterations.

As it comes out of the box, this wouldn't be the most reliable amp. Besides replacing the tubes, I purchased the Tube Tamer to eliminate tube rattle and a screen to protect the tubes.
After those changes, I have found it to be very reliable.

I haven't had to have any dealings with customer service. I'm sure they're very nice people.

I love it. It needs the alterations to make it come to life, but they cost very little, maybe an additional $100 altogether. That brings the price for a new amp up to about $600. You won't find an amp that delivers the tones you can get from the Delta Blues for twice that much. This is the best value, I've found, out there. Plus, you can pick one up used for $300 or less.

Bought it quite new in a mint condition
15" Speaker
Two channels
Boost mode
Reverb
Tremolo

I'm using Fender Deluxe Strat, Fret King Teles and a Les Paul made by Kortmann. Goal: 70/80ties rock and blues sounds. This amp is perfect for that sounds - Still Got The Blues is such a joy with it and it simply sounds perfect. Very dynamic reaction on your guitar volume and it sings and sings with a nice, warm and creamy voice. I love it. It is a bit noisy in the drive channel but that's the way it is with high gain settings. It's definately not too noisy. It can be very, very loud and practicing with the band without the PA is no problem at all. At the beginning it used to sound a bit harsh and fuzzy cause it simply needs to be pushed a few hours to burn in the tubes and slacken the speaker. Do it alone and without the band. After that period it is just a blues and rock heaven. It is very pedal friendly allthough I only use a H&K Tube Factor or Reussenzehn Daniel D. and that not very often. The TF-drive (mode 2) is not that good as the amp's. The clean channel is warm, sparkling and mellow at the same time and it reacts very dynamically - the more you feed it, the more you get. Solely with your attack (and good pickups) you can gain the crunch. I also love the 15" speaker since it has a wonderfull bottom. You got that really nice punch going directly to your guts. Suddenly you hear the differences between guitars and pickups and then you begin to understand, what is it all about pickup distance from the strings and staggered magnet poles, bypass capacitors etc. - things I'm simply with all the modellers. It is simply perfect for warm and punchy Texas blues clean and crunch sounds. Sure, there are better amps outthere but for the money you can't do anything wrong with this amp. You can always sell it for almost the same amount - there must be a good reason for that.

Built as a rock - no problems so far.

Never needed it so far.

One of the best Amps you can buy for that money.

My amp was made in 2002? I bought it off of ebay..just looking for an affordable tube amp. It has two channels..clean..overdrive. Clean is okay, od sucks. Hmm..it also has tremelo but that sucks too..nice tweed covering..15 inch Blue Marvel speaker. Spring Reverb. I play classic rock and blues...just what it was made for...but there's no way this thing will work for any live show like what I play..maybe for a bar or coffee house. nice practice amp.

This amp gets noisy when the controls are turned past 5..the amp goes to 12 so that's a problem. The tremelo cuts the volume of the amp in half when engaged...so forget using it. I also hate the fact that you cannot turn the reverb off at all. The clean is ok but the overdrive is squawky and weak...no guts at all. Not good for much other than blues...if you have a Les Paul maybe it will be okay..but i use strats..which i love and will use forever...go Fender!!

Hmm...seems to be built well enough. i got in in pretty rough condition and then nursed it back to health..but now it stays in the closet.....

Yeah right.......

I just can't say that this amp is good for much. I've been playing for ten years and I have spent plenty of time with professional musicians learning about what makes good gear good..this amp isn't it. I had a Fender Ultimate Chorus. I would get another one but in light of the coolness of the new Stage 1600 DSP i'll be getting that instead. can't get much use out of the Delta Blues.

Others have described this fairly well. I have the 15" model. It did not come with a cover or switch. Its feature set is pretty basic which is why I've given it 8/10.

If you are considering this amp the comments about tone stated on this board are correct. The clean channel is warm and rich -- good tube amplification. The lead channel is perfect for blues / rock. It can go anywhere from Neil Young to George Thorogood. It will not do Van Halen. However, that kind of super-driven sound is pretty easy to get from a transistor. The Thorogood sound needs to come from a real tube. "Who do you love" sounds amazing on this amp.

My primary guitars are a Peavey hollowbody (H/H) and a Strat (S/S/S). I own various pedals (voodoo overdrive (which is nice, by the way), Q Wah), and a modeler pre-amp. I don't use any of these with this amp (although I could see using the modeler to get that infinite sustain metal sound). The amp sounds great with both guitars and I continue to find worthy new tones from the combination of guitars and settings.

On this website some people have complained about the volume. Not sure what the fuss is about, past 7 or so this amp will rattle your house apart. If you are having volume troubles, check your tubes. Tubes are not transistors and with a broken tube you can sometimes still get sound, just much softer (and this goes for both pre-amp and power sections).

The amp arrived with a busted pre-amp tube in the lead channel (the box was clearly abused a little in shipment). For $20 I wasn't going to bother Peavey. I replaced it with a mullard clone. So keep in mind that I've never really heard this amp in its stock configuration and my love for its lead channel tone might be based upon the mullard tube switch.

Peavey dealers are few and far between. I will say, when you find one, they tend to be totally in love with Peavey. There are many people who sell Peavey equipment, but most are just places that will order it for you. The dealer in San Diego is great (dealt with him on the guitar, not the amp).

I've been playing this amp a few weeks now and I would not part with this amp for anything. If stolen, I'd find the thief and, put his head right up next to the speaker, crank it all the way up and ensure that he never found joy in music again. I would buy another; can't say that about most of the equipment I own.

My amplifier was made in mid 2005 in America.this amp has 2 channels, 1 clean, one dirty. 3 band eq, one for both, not one for each channel, a mid range boost, reverb, tremolo with speed and intensity. there is an FX loop, a jack for an external speaker cabinet, and an optional footswitch. this amp is fairly versitile, not meant for ever style, but can cover most of your rock and blues genres pretty well. It's all tube (3 12AX7's and 4 EL84's) with channel and mid range boost switching with the optional footswitch. It would be nice to have 2 independent eq's, one for each channel, but it's not too necessary, also, a standby switch would have been nice too, but it doesnt make too big of a difference. This thing kicks out volume like you wouldnt believe, you might want to invest in some quality earplugs. So far, I only use it at home, but it could easily handle medium sized club gigs. The tremolo isnt the most used feature, but it is nice to have once in a while. I would have really liked peavey to have made all the features switchable, but the world isn't perfect and nothing in it is. One of my favorite feratures...all the knobs go to 12.

I am currently using both a Peavey Raptor Plus Exp(S/S/H) all standard and a squire acoustic with a duncan maverick soundhole pickup. it sounds stunning with both these guitars, and let me tell you, they are far from top of the line guitars. I play anything from acoustic, to classic rock, to prog rock, to whatever i feel like playing, and it is simply an amazing sounding amplifier for all of them. The clean channel is sparkling with amazing tube tone and volume. If you are ever able to crank it to about nine with a humbucker, you can get a pretty sweet sound much like what you'll get out of a Vox AC30. It is a bit noisy if you really like having your reverb up to 12, but besides that, it's very quiet. The clean channel stays clean when you want it to, but at high volume, you can get 'er to sing with beautiful naturally overdriven tone. The dirty channel is alright, but it I don't spend too much time using it. With the pre set to around 4 or 5, you can get a decent AC/DC tone if you're into that. This is definately not a high gain amp, if you throw a pedal in front of it, it would sound just fine, but it's not meant for metal or heavy rock. It does not sound at all boxy like some reviews say, it suppose each ear hears it a little differently.

So far I have had no problems with this amplifier. I'd never go gig with it without some extra tubes just in case, but taking a back up amplifier is just crazy. This amp has not broken down and if it ever does, I know I can trust Peavey to fix it.

The people at Peavey are very friendly folk, they'll talk to you to make sure an issue is resolved. While I was waiting for my amp to arrive in my local music store, peavey support was very courteous. If you ever have questions about the Delta Blues, go to Yahoo.com, there is a Delta Blues group and a Peavey representative, Mike Brown, stops frequently to offer as much help as he can. I am going to give this a seven because it took over two months for the amp to make it to the store so i could pick it up.

I've been playing for about two years now, and i own a Peavey Raptor Plus Exp, a squire acoustic with pop-in pickup, hardshell cases for both of them. i have a few pedals, a practice amp, and a few gig bags lying around. If it were lost or stolen, I would most definately cry. After I was done, I would go get another, perhaps try out the 210 model. I love the tone especially on clean, but i dont like the lack of footswitchable features. I compared this with a Fender Hot Rod Deville(the 40 watt one) and i just loved the clean on this one more than the Deville. I also looked at a blues junior, and decided on this one because of the volume and again, the clean channel. I wish it had a standby switch, but thats alright. I would also like to note that it came with a cover straight from Peavey which rocks. Nothing's perfect, but for the price, this one's a winner. If you have any questions, feel free to email me.

See above reviews for the details...I think mine is a 2004 or 5 .It HAS a very solid tube cage......EXCEPT...I hated the overdrive channel sound until somebody at PV.com told me to replace the V2 Pre-amp tube with an ECC 832 from eurotubes.com....Lower gain...BETTER SOUND...10 bucks...I'm THRILLED...Now I like both channels and it's plenty loud.But I only use it in my home studio....But I was a pro gigger for YEARS,and I know from LOUD...I NEVER turn the master above 4 or so.....

I use a Couple of G&L's (ASAT Custom Semi hollow GunOil Birdseye neck and a Legacy) and an 83 Greco Les Paul Custom (that i would DIE if I ever lost)With the 10$ preamp tube mod the DB sounds punchier.Quiter(backround noise wise).Is LOUDER...And the OD channel sounds GREAT now...

Had it for a year...Starts every morning.Even when cold.

The place i got it at gave me a cover and a pedal,and said "if any thing goes wrong,just bring it back.Dont sweat the warrenty"

I've been playing for 30 years.If i lost this amp I'd get another one in 2 seconds and then Call Bob at Eurotubes to get the 832 mod.I don't hate anything about it....It even still smells good when it gets hot.It also sounds great driving my Tone Tubbys.I talked my older brother into getting one too.He's STILL thanking me.Thats about IT......

two channel reverb trem, good eq,, pretty loud. Plenty of features.

Dont like the distortion channel, but dont use it anyway, Clean channel is nice. Deep bass response is pretty flabby if you play hard. Overall tone is decent, and affordable. Very reduced volume using tremolo, and not that great. Reverb is ok, nothing special. Thats the sound in a nutshell--OK.

Dont know, traded it in.

It is a nice amp, and at its price is a good bargain. I have played Fenders for a long time, and couldnt get used to it, so I traded it in and got a used Deluxe rev. It sounds decent until you play it in comparison to a Fender, which I prefer.